The Light Bulb Moment
The light bulb moment: There’s nothing more rewarding than that moment when the people you are working with—whether it’s students or clients—get it.
I was teaching my Branding for Small Business class the other night when one of my students observed, “It sounds like you’re telling us to just be super clear in our message.” I give him an A+ for that insightful comment.
The Tower of Babble
Mixed messages and mysterious elevator pitches have reached near epidemic levels to the point of being a tower of babble before the targeted audience zones out. I experience them on a daily basis when attending a meeting, or reading a website. There will be a written paragraph or a brief (often 30 seconds) verbal description of what someone or some company does. But the only person who has any idea what they do is themselves. The rest of us are left wondering, and without a clear understanding.
Misunderstandings and miscommunications occur frequently even in normal conversations. I mean, how many times have you had a conversation in which one person says, “I got that she’s in finance but I’m not really sure what that means.” or, “I read his home page but I still don’t have a clue what he does.”
Clarity of Message; Cloudless & Bright
To get rid of misunderstandings and make sure your marketing isn’t muddied up or interpreted as babble, clarity of message is key! Clarity is a word I use often to describe a good message. It must be clear. I just looked up synonyms for the word Clarity. The thesaurus served up, “Cloudless and Bright”. Your message must be cloudless and bright.
If your audience has a thought cloud full of question marks after your elevator pitch, it’s not clear. If they aren’t having a “light bulb” moment after reading how you can help them, the message is not bright.
Here’s the bottom line. You’re never going to have their full attention. Our brains simply do not focus on a singular input in this fast-paced world of distractions that we live in. While we read or listen to your message, we are also taking in a multitude of other sights and sounds, possibly even multitasking, along with our own internal dialog. And most of us aren’t willing to do mental gymnastics in order to follow along with your train of thought.
Decide Who It’s For
Your product or service is not for everyone. Decide who you want to work with. Once you’ve determined who it’s for, talk to your customers and prospects. Listen carefully to the language they are using to describe their problem and the solution they are looking for. Then use that language to craft your 30-second commercial.
If you already know who you are targeting, share your elevator pitch and get feedback. It is critical to ask a sampling of your target audience questions about how they interpret your sales pitch! Ask them, “Do you understand what I do?” Keep sending your message and asking for feedback until it’s a Cloudless and Bright, which translates into a forecast of a SUNNY day of sales!
What’s In It For Me
After you’ve asked around to understand what your prospective clients want, and you make sure that your target audience understands what you’re selling, the next step to lock in the sale is to help them to feel that they WANT to buy it. No one wants to buy your widget because you think they should. People make purchasing decisions based on whether or not it gets them closer to their dreams and desires. Spell this message out. Don’t make them guess. Tell me: What’s in it for me. Make it clear so that there’s no confusion or babble with the message of what’s in it for them to land your tower of sales!
Need expert advice on how to hit the mark every time with your commercial or brand story? Contact the Brand Doctor at Imago Visual and start converting your prospects to paying customers through messaging that sticks.
